.i^. 


i\^ofHYBRIDr 

discovered  by  — 
RICHARD    DIENE 


<<cts^  ■#«•*       "^ 


r'^    CO 


GIFT  OF 


THE 
LAWS  OF  HYBRIDIZING 


DISCOVERED   BY 

RICHARD  DIENER 
KENTFIELD 
CALIFORNIA 

IN  PUBLISHING  THIS  DISCOVERY  T  WISH 
TO  DEDICATE  IT  TO  HON.  WILLIAM  KENT 
OF  CALIFORNIA,  WHO  BACKED  AND  AIDED 
THE  WORK    IN  THE    PUBLIC    INTEREST 


COPYRIGHT  1920  BY  RICHARD  DiENER 
FOREIGN  RIGHTS  RESERVED. 


COPYRIGHT.       ALL   RIGHTS   STRICTLY   RESERVED 


WHAT  PLANT  LIFE  IS 

f^kLANT  life  is  a  chemical  process  by  which  the  sun's 
J  rays  are  caught  through  the  chlorophyll  of  the  leaves 
and  deposited  on  the  earth's  surface  as  carbon.  Since  the 
beginning,  untold  numbers  of  plant  life  have  been  created 
continually  by  the  sun's  rays  in  water  or  moist  places  where 
conditions  are  favorable.  But  of  those  untold  numbers  only  such 
as  had  the  ability  to  sport  could  climb  the  ladder  of  evolution. 

In  their  early  stages  it  was  their  habit  of  life  to  float  in 
moisture,  and  propagation  was  accomplished  by  splitting  apart. 
This  was  the  sexless  state. 

In  later  stages,  growing  in  the  marshes,  they  commenced  to 
develop  root  systems,  and  finally  developed  varieties  growing 
outside  the  marshes;  sex  developed,  and  eventually  reached  the 
stage  of  seed  production.  After  they  had  reached  the  stage 
where  they  reproduced  themselves  from  seed  they  developed  all 
kinds  of  forms  which  were  necessary  in  dryer  conditions. 

They  then  developed  faster — from  grasses  to  shrubs,  from 
shrubs  to  bushes  and  from  bushes  to  trees. 

Under  whatever  condition  they  were  living  at  this  time  their 
object  was  to  catch  the  sun's  rays,  make  carbon  out  of  them 
and  deposit  them  as  solid  matter  on  the  earth's  surface. 

Take  for  instance  our  California  redwoods,  which  are  Nature's 
highest  development  on  earth  to-day.  Billions  of  years  since 
a  thousand  ancestors  of  these  very  redwoods  could  be  held  in 
a  drop  of  water.  Some  trees,  like  the  California  live  oak,  or 
many  varieties  growing  in  the  tropics,  show  the  wonderful  result 
of  Nature's  intention  in  a  very  striking  way.  If  the  leaves  of  a 
single  tree  of  this  description  were  laid  side  by  side  they  would 
cover  the  greater  part  of  an  acre,  yet  the  tree  occupied  only  a 
small  part  of  the  earth's  surface.  In  order  to  build  themselves  up 
in  their  evolution  the  roots  had  to  take  material  from  our  earth, 
as  lime,  to  strengthen  their  structure,  and  many  other  chemicals 


^ 


42526: 


necessary  for  the  same  purpose,  just  in  the  same  fashion  as  the 
animals  do  to  build  up  their  skeletons. 

Now  the  carbon  will  remain  on  the  earth's  surface  till  some 
day  fire  is  set  to  it,  which  is  still  another  chemical  process,  and 
release  all  that  came  from  the  sun  in  gas.  The  gas  will  disap- 
pear from  the  earth  but  all  material  which  was  used  from  the 
earth  for  building  up  the  structure  of  plants  will  remain  as  ashes. 

When  we  look  over  the  earth  and  see  only  a  few  thousand 
plant  and  animal  families,  it  means  that  from  the  untold  num- 
bers of  embryonic  life  that  the  sun  created  through  the  billions 
of  years  only  those  upon  which  Nature  bestowed  the  ability 
to  sport  have  survived. 

SPORTS 

A  sport  is  an  individual  outgrowth  of  a  variety;  in  most  cases 
with  characteristics  so  markedly  different  from  the  original  as 
to  attract  attention.  It  is  the  nucleus  of  a  new  cycle  in  the  variety 
and  may  appear  as  bud,  branch  or  seed,  without  cross  pollination. 

Prior  to  the  acquisition  of  sex,  when  the  propagation  of  plant 
life  depended  entirely  upon  the  splitting-apart  process,  any  vari- 
ety which  did  not  produce  a  sport  during  its  cycle  of  existence 
was  doomed  to  extinction. 

These  cycles  differ  in  length  from  a  short  period  in  fast-grow- 
ing ones  to  a  term  of  a  thousands  of  years  in  the  slow-growing. 

As  an  example  of  the  first  we  have  the  Sagina  Supulata  which 
spreads  like  a  carpet  on  the  ground  in  its  moss-like  growth.  The 
original  color  of  the  plant  is  dark  green,  while  the  sports,  which 
can  be  discerned  easily,  appear  in  light  green,  yellow  and  brown. 

In  the  germ  form  of  animal  and  plant  life  where  the  growth 
is  so  rapid  that  a  cycle  of  life  comprises  but  a  half  hour  we  see 
the  most  rapid  sporting,  as  in  diseases  like  colds,  flu,  cholera  and 
typhoid.  The  cycle  of  a  variety  here  is  composed  of  a  term 
of  from  a  few  months  to  a  few  years,  so  that  when  they  reappear 
after  a  certain  period  they  will  show  different  habits  and  charac- 
teristics from  their  progenitors  which  the  new  sport  has  taken  on. 


ANIMAL  LIFE  IN  RELATION 
TO  PLANT  LIFE 

Originally  plants  and  animals  came  from  the  same  source,  but 
in  later  developments  of  early  germ  stages  some  species  acquired 
the  habit  of  plant  eating,  and  thereby  losing  their  chlorophyll. 
Animal  life  became  Nature's  maw  which,  whether  carried  by 
an  elephant  or  the  smallest  microbe,  performs  the  function  of 
transforming  plant  matter  into  plant  food  upon  which  the  new 
plant  forms  thrive. 

If  it  were  not  for  the  existence  of  animal  life  the  leaves,  bark 
and  general  residue  of  vegetation  would,  in  a  period  of  twenty- 
five  years  or  thereabouts,  cover  the  ground  to  such  a  height  that 
no  new  vegetation  could  spring  up  and  plant  life  would  annihi- 
late itself,  there  being  no  decay. 

CROSS-BREEDING— WHAT  IT  IS  AND  MEANS 

Cross-breeding  can  only  be  accomplished  within  family  lines. 

Take  for  instance  the  lines  of  Solanum  and  Pirus,  which  are 
widely  distributed  over  the  earth,  and  have  acquired,  through 
many  sportings,  re-sporting  and  varied  climatic  conditions,  very 
many  varied  forms. 

One  cannot  cross  a  Solanum  with  a  Pirus,  or  vice  versa,  but 
must  conduct  the  crossing  between  the  two  members  of  a  single 
family,  a  Solanum  with  a  Solanum,  a  Pirus  with  a  Pirus,  in  order 
to  develop  new  hybrids.  The  rule  would  hold  the  same  with  the 
Gladiolus  or  Erica  families. 

Ever  since  boyhood  I  have  been  interested  in  plant  life  in 
general  and  anxious  to  delve  into  the  secrets  of  plant  growth. 
Cross-breeding  at  that  time  was  just  being  seriously  entered 
upon,  and  consequently  I  adopted  it  as  my  hobby.  When  seven- 
teen years  of  age,  happening  to  cross  some  tuberous  Begonias,  I 
found,  when  the  seedlings  flowered,  that  a  great  many  had 
doubled  the  size  of  the  parent  flower.  This  set  me  to  thinking 
that  there  might  be  natural  laws  existing  of  which  we  have  no 


<4! 


1 


knowledge.  From  this  time  onward  I  worked  systematically 
with  crosses,  making  an  endless  number,  and  carefully  preserving 
records  of  the  sizes  of  plants  and  flowers  used.  As  the  seedlings 
bloomed  they  demonstrated  more  and  more  clearly  that  I  was 
on  the  right  path,  and  certain  of  the  crosses  gave  me  an  inkling 
of  the  method  used  for  increasing  size,  though  it  took  thousands 
of  crosses  and  about  fifteen  years  of  time  to  perfect  the  actual 
laws  I  herewith  submit;  these  laws  accomplish  by  short,  direct 
method  what  it  would  take  Nature  thousands  and  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  years  to  do  in  a  natural  way . 

EXPLANATION   OF   DIAGRAM 

Sizes  A  and  B  in  Figures  i,  2  and  3,  are  intended  to  represent 
the  comparative  sizes  of  sex  parents  of  flowers,  fruit  or  grain  con- 
cerned in  fertilization.  Size  C  represents  the  size  of  the  resulting 
offspring.  Each  figure  represents  but  one  fertilization ;  by  using 
new  parents  derived  from  the  offspring  C  the  process  can  be  con- 
tinued indefinitely. 

The  first  or  declining  way:  reduction  of  size. 

Size  A  Figure  i  shows  a  small  pollen  parent,  one- half  the 
size  of  the  ovule  parent  B.  Under  such  a  condition  the  resulting 
offspring  c  will  be  one-half  the  size  of  the  pollen-bearing  parent  A. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  in  case  the  pollen-bearing  parent  A  were 
smaller  than  the  ovule  parent  B,  but  more  than  one-half  its  size, 
the  ofl^spring  C  would  be  proportionately  larger;  on  the  other 
hand,  if  A  is  less  than  one-half  the  size  of  B,  then  C  will  be  propor- 
tionately smaller  than  shown  in  the  diagram.  Consequently,  if 
smaller  sizes  than  the  current  normal  size  of  a  given  plant  are 
desired,  any  amount  of  reduction  can  be  secured  by  continuing 
the  process  illustrated  in  Figure  i . 

The  second  or  enlarging  way:   increase  of  size. 

For  the  purpose  of  increasing  the  size  the  best  results  will  be 
obtained  by  using  pollen-  and  ovule-bearing  parents  of  exactly 
the  same  size,  as  shown  in  A  and  B  of  Figure  2.  If  the  sizes  are  the 
same  an  actual  doubling  of  size  will  be  secured  in  the  offspring  C. 


v>f 


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f-r, .JT,  .j--r.    /i-r..  xrw^.j-'m  j^.jjt..  v-r,  i^T....A-T...j.~T:...2.r.,  jt.  ^r  ..xy  .,i-T...^-T.  .Ar.-.U-T,, ,^-r,  .i-^T  jLT  ,iT  .JrT.^ i'7„.XT;.4.^„.I\ 


KEY  io  the  LAW 

discovered  by 

A.   DECLI?s(iJN/g  ^Y 


POLLEN 
PARENT 

(MALE) 


B.    ENLARGIIsfe  ^WAY 


OVULE 
PARENT 

(FEMALE) 


POLLEN 

PARENT 
(male) 


OVULE 

PARENT 
(female) 


X 


POLLEN 

PARENT 
(male) 


OVULE 
PARENT 
(female) 


r"-^r"'A-r"-j.-r"'i~T'iti*"''^.r-"i-w-''-^^f"-"i~T''-jr'r-''j,^  >,i.-r-'J,:r"2:r"M^''I^'"Jrr'ii^-)lT"AA 


f  HYBRIDIZING 

-RICHARD   DIENE 


RESULT:  Fir     1 

1  ^t.  GENERATION       ^  ^^'  ^• 


I 


RESULT: 


KJi,»ul.i:  FTP    9 

1st.  GENERATIOIs/       ^  ^^'  ^' 


RESULT:  p^yp    ^ 

1st.  generation/      ^  *^'  ^• 


"K-^, 


'tr"-A;T"'i'T'ntV"1L-r"Xr-'AT"'A'7---Jrr"'A'r-drr"^^^  "'l'T"'J-r-"-Mrr''A-T'"A.~r-''^-T-'rr-'i 


'^-^^i^S:----'-^' 


lUji-z^ 


^. .? 


r" 


F 


\-T^,.^-r.,.,^£T-'-'i-*--'i-y--'i--K-....i--r...2.jr....A,r....^.-w....^^^  ■i-T...i-T:,i-r„  i-T,..j.To.d.-T;:zrr::xf. 


A-^.-^vAT^i: 


t 


\mm 


^i^/ 


^M^^ 


It  is  to  be  understood  that  not  every  individual  represented  by 
C  will  be  doubled  even  if  A  and  B  are  precisely  the  same  size.  In 
the  first  generation  the  average  number  of  C  individuals  of  maxi- 
mum size  will  be  12  out  of  100  under  conditions  stated.  The 
remaining  88  in  100  will  all  be  larger  than  either  Aor  B  and  will 
range  in  sizes  between  the  size  of  parents  and  the  maximum  size 
of  offspring  illustrated.  As  for  the  second  and  later  generations 
derived  from  C,  since  the  A  and  B  of  subsequent  fertilizations  are 
more  closely  related  than  were  the  original  A  and  B,  the  percent- 
age of  maximum  results  runs  up  as  high  as  40  per  centum,  as  I 
found  in  my  Petunia  crossings.  This  will  happen  only  in  case  of 
close  relationship  between  A  and  B. 

The  third: 

Figure  3  illustrates  the  result  when  the  ovule  parent  B  is  one- 
half  the  size  of  the  pollen-bearing  parent  A.  In  this  case  the 
offspring  C  will  be  slightly  larger  than  the  pollen  parent  A,  but 
no  great  increase  in  size  can  be  expected  from  this  method. 

By  observing  the  results  obtained  under  the  conditions  repre- 
sented by  Figures  i,  2,  3,  one  can  determine  exactly  what  to 
expect  out  of  material  on  hand,  whatever  the  relative  size  of  the 
plants  A  and  B  may  be.  Size  comparisons  are  made  between  parent 
blooms  when  pollinating  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  the  size 
of  blossoms;  between  fruits  by  increasing  the  size  of  fruit,  and 
between  kernels  by  increasing  the  size  of  kernels. 


MODIFICATIONS  OF  COLOR 
OR  FORM  OF  FLOWERS 

The  pollen-bearing  parent  is  always  the  dominating  factor  in 
changes  of  form  or  color.  For  instance,  if  one  desires  to  increase 
and  accentuate  incipient  ruffling  or  frilling  which  may  occur  in 
the  petals  of  a  given  plant,  A  and  B  parents  already  having  some 
marks  of  the  nature  desired  should  be  chosen;  but  the  pollen 
should  be  taken  from  the  individual  which  shows  the  desired 
feature  most  strongly. 


m 


Likewise,  in  modifying  colors  to  increase  the  intensity  of  a 
given  color,  choose  two  colors  of  the  same  shade  but  take  the 
pollen  from  the  one  which  shows  the  most  pronounced  coloring 
of  the  shade  desired. 

On  the  contrary,  if  lighter  shades  are  desired,  select  colors  as 
before  but  take  the  pollen  from  the  plant  which  has  the  lighter 
shade. 

Further,  in  attempting  to  derive  new  colors  always  use  a  white 
flower  as  a  B  parent  with  which  to  break  up  colors.    This  will 
work  to  absolute  perfection.    This   method  of  mixing  colors 
works  the  same  when  applied  to  plants  as  the  actual  mixture  of      \i 
colors  on  an  artist's  palette. 

RESULT  OF  ANIMAL  CROSSES 

iEXEMPLIFIED  BY  CHICKENS) 

On  account  of  the  sexes  being  in  different  individuals  it  takes 
two  crosses  to  reach  the  same  result  that  is  obtained  by  a  single 
fertilization  in  the  case  of  plants  where  both  sexes  reside  in  the 
same  individual.  First  two  individual  chickens  are  selected.  The 
female  offspring  C  from  the  resulting  fertilization  is  then  mated 
with  the  original  A  parent.  Of  the  offspring  from  this  second 
fertilization  about  one-third  are  double  the  size  of  the  original 
parents.  This  high  proportion  of  larger  sized  individuals  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  A  parent  was  a  sport  of  white  leghorn  and 
was  mated  with  the  same  flock  from  which  it  originated  and 
consequently  very  closely  related.  The  same  idea  has  been  used 
in  carnations  where  the  sports  of  the  carnation  Enchantress  as  A 
parent  and  Enchantress  as  B  parent  with  very  striking  results  as 
the  high  quality  of  plants  is  intensified  in  this  case.  The  same 
result  can  presumably  be  obtained  by  taking  male  offspring  C  of 
the  first  generation  and  securing  fertilized  eggs  by  mating  with 
the  original  B  parent. 

The  fact  that  both  animals  and  plants  respond  to  this  law  is  a       '^'i}^ 
proof  of  their  common  origin. 


M'S 


// 

Generatiori 

Increased  to 

I  Pound 


B  Parent 


^^a^^Q^HJAmtk. 


■..•«#n'-.».^K«^",'- 


B  Parent 
Weight 
1  Ounce 


dihAiAMihLhii 


C&^c/yiMy^mcrA. 


(••^■•■■W 


:  ^ 


In  concluding  I  want  to  say  that  few  people  at  the  present 
time  realize  the  immensity  of  this  discovery  to  mankind.  It  is 
equal  to  the  discovery  of  electricity,  if  not  greater.  It  means 
that  the  farmer  and  horticulturist  will  get  three  to  four  times 
the  amount  of  fruits  and  grains  from  the  same  land  without  any 
additional  fertilizer  or  expenses,  simply  by  using  varieties  devel- 
oped higher  through  these  laws  from  the  vai-ieties  in  use  now. 
Not  only  is  the  size  of  fruit  and  grain  doubled,  but  the  yield 
per  plant  also. 

The  common  wheat  with  which  I  started  brought  only  twenty- 
five  to  thirty  bushels  per  acre  while  in  the  third  generation  of 
the  same  wheat  some  varieties  produced  one  hundred  and  fifty 
bushels  to  the  acre.  The  same  increase  in  quantity  I  found  in 
tomatoes,  beans,  corn,  Sudan  Grass  and  many  other  things  I 
worked  on. 

By  the  proper  application  of  these  laws  almost  any  degree  of 
improvement  can  be  obtained  in  a  few  crossings  as  I  have  proven 
to  everyone's  satisfaction  with  my  gladioli,  petunias,  wheat, 
tomatoes  and  corn. 


PRESS  OF  THE  HANSEN  CO.     S.    F 


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